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How to Teach 

ISTORY 

A Manual of ^Suggestions 
for the teacher. 



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By HENRY W. ELSON, A.M., Ph.D., 

Author ot its on American History," '* Historical Biographic 

Children," etc. 
; the American Society for the Extension ol 



NEW YORK & CHICAGO: 

E. L. KELLOGG CEL CO. 



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"1bow to fteacb" /iDanuals-— No. 13 



HOW TO TEACH 

HISTORY 



A MANUAL OF SUGGESTIONS 
FOR THE TEACHER 



BY 

HENRY W. ELSON, A.M., Ph.D. 

if 
AUTHOR OF ' ■ SIDE LIGHTS ON AMERICAN HISTORY," " HISTORICAL 

BIOGRAPHIES FOR CHILDREN," ETC. 

LECTURER OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR THE 

EXTENSION OF UNIVERSITY TEACHING 




NEW YORK AND CHICAGO 

E. I? KELLOGG & CO, 



THE LIBRARY OF 

CONGRESS, 
One Co*v Received 

JUN. 12 190! 

COPYAIGHT ENTRY 

(«l-A8S^XXc N*. 

I coVvJ* 



IV, 

CONTENTS ,£4.5* 



PAGE 

I. Collateral Reading 5 

II. Teaching Beginners g 

III. Assigning Lessons 28 

IV. Imaginary Tours 31 

V. Dates 37 

VI. Miscellany 43 

VII. Geographical Progression < 47 

VIII. The Historical Obelisk , ( 51 

IX. Current History ,.\ 56 

X. Bibliography '.:'. 60 



Copyright, 1901, by 

E. L. KELLOGG & CO. 

NEW YORK 



PREFATORY NOTE. 



The aim in writing this little book has not been to 
deal with fundamental principles, but simply to make 
hints and suggestions that may be helpful to the wide- 
awake teacher. Many go through life doing things in 
a bungling way because no better or easier way is 
pointed out to them. We do many things laboriously 
until some one invents a device or machine by which 
our labor is lessened. 

Some discourage the use of all special devices 
in teaching; but while it is true that tact in teaching 
counts immeasurably more than anything else, the 
teacher who rejects all new ideas and methods which 
the experience of others has proved to be useful must 
be classed with the man who refused to divide the grain 
in the bag when he rode his horse to mill, and put a 
heavy stone in one end of the bag to balance the grain 
in the other, because his father and grandfather had 
done so. A wise farmer will not cling to the old scythe 
because the mowing-machine is the invention of some 
one else. Nor^vdll a wise teacher reject all methods 

3 



4 Prefatory Note. 

that are not her own, simply because they are. not her 
own. 

A device that may be very useful for some special 
purpose may seem, apart from its use, like the product 
of a foolish brain; but the same is true of a clothes-pin, 
a coat-button, or any piece of machinery, if you view it 
per se and have no knowledge of its use. 

History is probably the most badly-taught subject in 
our schools; yet it is the easiest and most delightful of 
all to teach, if the teacher knows the subject well, loves 
it, and knows how to impart her knowledge. 

The author of this little book makes no pretense to 
set forth a new system of teaching history, nor to revo- 
lutionize the methods of any one. The object as stated 
has been to furnish some hints and suggestions that can 
be easily followed and it is hoped may be found helpful. 

H. W. E. 

Philadelphia, Pa., February, 1901. 



HOW TO TEACH HISTORY. 



I. 

COLLATEEAL BEADING. 

History is the most absorbing of all our studies in 
the schools. Why? Because it is so human. You may 
interest your pupils in mathematics and grammar and 
geography, but you can interest them still more when 
you talk about your own humankind. Our love for the 
arts and sciences is, in some measure, acquired; our 
interest in our own species is natural. 

History is the study of the human life of a past age, 
and if it seems dry and insipid to us, it is because, from 
our own fault or that of the historian, it does not come 
to us in a lifelike form. Often have I heard teachers 
complain that they could not interest their classes in 
history. To this I have but one answer: " You are not 
then interested in it yourself." Eemember in study- 
ing and teaching history to keep always before you the 
one central thought — the developing of the nation, the 

5 



L 



6 How to Teach History. 

unfolding of civilization, with character-study as a 
strong second. 

The school history, the text-book, is very useful if 
skillfully written, but all too brief and condensed to 
give even a good working knowledge of the subject. 
There are some subjects that may be taught by one who 
has mastered but one text-book on that subject. A 
" complete " arithmetic, for example, may cover the sci- 
ence sufficiently well that one may teach it without 
studying beyond the one book. But this is not true of 
history. The history of our country is a great story 
filled with moving, living figures, full of romance and 
tragedy, of rivalry and envy, of hatred and love. We 
see the wild man of the forest living his simple life in 
contentment; we see him chase the deer and battle 
with his enemy; again we behold him in his rude home 
and hear his song resound from hill to hill. Then we 
see a stronger race coming from afar and the long war- 
fare between Civilization and Barbarism begins. Now 
comes the pioneer with his axe and his gun and the 
settler with his plough. The foundations are laid for a 
mighty nation, the development of a continent. We 
still gaze on the wonderful panorama until there rises 
before our eyes a powerful government, a great self- 
governing people whose influence is felt in every part 
of the earth. 

The story is a real one, not fiction. We can get it by 
reading American history. The condensed text-book 
can give but a meagre idea of the great subject, and no 
teacher is competent to teach the subject without a 
broader reading than it gives. The teacher therefore 



Collateral Reading. 7 

must read beyond the school history, and fortunately 
such literature we have in abundance.* 

Now a word of direction to the teacher. 

" How can I read a historical work to the best advan- 
tage? " First, Do not hurry. It is impossible for you 
to do good work if you read rapidly, as you would fiction 
or other lighter literature. Have access, if possible, to 
a cyclopedia or biographical dictionary. Eefer to it 
often. It will retard your reading; but the time is not 
lost. 

" How can I retain what I read? I enjoy the reading, 
but soon after the book or subject is finished, it is all 
mixed up in my mind, and I have little definite knowl- 
edge of it." This is the universal complaint of amateur 
students of history. What is the remedy? 

Perhaps the best thing to do is to take notes. What 
the gamebag is to the huntsman the note-book is to the 
student. Let your notes be brief and to the point. 
Whenever you sit down to read, review the last chapters 
you have read, not by re-reading them, but \*y reading 
your notes. When you read another book on the same 
subject, take another set of notes, but write nothing 
that you have written before or that you already know. 
Treasure your note-books above all the books in your 
library. They may be useful any time. The writer 
asked a noted historian if a certain work he had just 
published did not require a great deal of research. 
" Yes," was his answer, " but I did most of it many 
years ago when I made a study of this subject and took 
elaborate notes which I found very useful in this work/' 

* See list of books, pp. 61 ff, 



8 How to Teach History. 

Kemember at all times, and especially when taking 
notes, that historical facts are not of equal value. The 
historian has used his skill in selecting his materials 
from the innumerable facts and incidents of which the 
history of a people is composed, and the reader must 
now use his skill in condensing it still further. 

In a book of questions on United States history now 
before me I find such questions as these: "How many 
chests of tea were thrown overboard by the Boston Tea 
Party? " and " What w T as the color of the stamps of the 
Stamp Act of 1765? " Why burden the mind with such 
things? Who cares how many chests of tea there were, 
or what was the color of those stamps? "What were 
the last words of Nathan Hale?"is a question of far 
greater importance, as its answer shows the spirit that 
characterized the patriotism of the times. However, 
let it be remembered that many details of slight im- 
portance should be kept in mind as illustrations. 



II. 

TEACHING BEGINNEKS. 

We assume now that the teacher has read widely on 
the subject of American history, is filled with it, loves 
it, and is eager to give forth this knowledge to others. 
If this is true, if you are truly interested in the subject 
and enthusiastic over it, you will have no trouble what- 
ever in awakening an intense interest in your school. 

You have before you a class of young hopefuls, eager 
to hear something that will interest them. No text- 
book is needed. I would not put one in their hands for 
two or three years after beginning the subject. The 
teacher must be the text-book. The best thing to do 
at first is perhaps to take a general birdVe}^e view of 
the country, pointing out a few of the chief events and 
figures, just as when viewing a landscape you would 
point out a mountain peak, a winding river, a beautiful 
tree, or a grassy plain. After such a general view you 
settle down to study something in particular. Begin 
where you like — with the Revolutionary period, the 
Colonial, the Civil War, or begin with the present and 
go backward. Make your work largely biographical, get 
in the human interest as much as possible. Tell a his- 
torical story; have one of the pupils repeat it next day. 
It may take the brightest one in the class to do ih ; s the 

9 



to How to Teach History, 

first time; but keep it up the next day and the next — 
until the dullest one can tell it, after which, with an 
occasional review, it is safe. 

Connect each day's lesson with the preceding, and so 
weave a web that will become a complete whole in the 
end. By spending twenty or thirty minutes in this 
way each day you will be astonished at the end of the 
term to find how much history the children have 
learned without their knowing, scarcely, that they have 
studied history at all. 

STORIES. 

It is best for the teacher to make the historical stories 
for children as personal as possible. Trace the life and 
adventures of a man or woman and put it in such shape 
that every child will readily understand and follow you. 
Always connect the life and deeds of the person of 
whom you tell with the country's history so as to make 
them inseparable, not neglecting to dwell as far as prac- 
ticable on the childhood and early life of your subject 
— as childhood always appeals to children. It is easy 
for any teacher to find the material for the story of such 
a character as Franklin, Washington, Jefferson, Web- 
ster, Clay or Lincoln. I shall, therefore, in giving the 
two examples choose less conspicuous characters than 
these. 

Suppose you are treating of such a subject as the In- 
dians, or the times when our grandfathers hewed their 
way into the deep forest, battling with the wild beasts 
and the wild Indians; or the movement of the popula- 



Teaching Beginners. n 

tion from the Atlantic States toward the West; what 
would be more interesting than the story of Daniel 
Boone? 

Long, long ago there was a baby-boy born in Penn- 
sylvania not far from the Delaware River. It was but 
three years after the birth of George Washington — who 
can tell when that was? The name of this boy was 
Daniel Boone. He spent his whole life in the forest and 
became a great Indian hunter. Isn't it lovely to stroll 
through the deep wood far from where people live? to 
rustle the dry leaves with your feet — to lie down on your 
back and look up through the trees? to watch a merry 
little squirrel with its merry little bark run down a sap- 
ling near you? 

Daniel Boone loved the forest better than the city or 
the country. He lived with his father and mother in 
a little log house among the great trees, and when he 
was very young he became a skillful hunter. One day, 
when he was about twelve years old, he took his dog 
and his gun and started out to hunt. When night came 
he did not return. By next morning his parents began 
to be alarmed. They feared that Daniel might have 
fallen into the hands of the Indians, or become a prey 
to some wild beast. 

They now called in the neighbors and organized a 
searching-party. The men went by twos and threes in 
different directions and spent the whole day and night 
searching for the lost boy. At length one of them saw 
in the distance a thin column of smoke rising from a 
queer-looking little cabin. They approached and peeped 



1 2 How to Teach History. 

in, and there sat Daniel Boone, looking like an old 
hunter who had settled down for the season. 

He was preparing his supper from some choice pieces 
of the game he had shot. He did this by cutting the 
flesh into thin pieces and holding them over the fire 
on a stick until cooked. 

The earthen floor of his cabin he had carpeted with 
the skins of the animals. The cabin was a very rude 
one which he himself had built. 

Daniel seemed to be surprised that any one would 
be uneasy about him. He took it as a matter of course 
that a hunter could not be expected to return at any 
particular time. 

He was grieved that they did not think him able to 
take care of himself; but as soon as they told him that 
his mother was in distress on account of his absence, he 
hastened back to comfort her. 

When he was about eighteen years old he moved with 
his parents to North Carolina and here they lived for 
many years, and Daniel spent most of his time hunting. 
He afterward married a neighbor's daughter named 
Eebecca Bryan, and they built a little cabin in the 
w r oods and lived a happy life together. The cabin was 
made of logs notched at the ends so they would fit at 
the corners. There was but one room, one door and one 
window. Opposite the door was an open space for a fire- 
place, and the chimney was built outside with flat sticks 
like laths and plastered with mortar. Daniel knew the 
habits of every wild animal, and a bloodhound could 
scarcely follow a trail better than he could. 

One day, as Boone was sitting by his fireside with his 



Teaching Beginners. 13 

wife and children, a visitor dropped in and told him of 
a wonderful hunting ground called Kentucky, several 
hundred miles away. Xo white man lived there, but 
there were buffalo and deer and wild turkeys in great 
numbers. Boone now decided to visit Kentucky, and 
he bade his family good-by and started with five other 
men to cross the mountains. This was in the spring 
of 1769. After they had tramped through the woods 
for five weeks they came to the top of\# mountain from 
which they could see the land of promise, as they 
called it. 

Here they made their camp on the mountain top, and 
from it they went forth on hunting excursions, usually 
two together, and after two or three days they would 
meet again at the camp. They remained through the 
summer, and one day in the fall when Boone and his 
companion, a man named John Stewart, were walking 
along the bank of the Kentucky Eiver a band of Indi- 
ans dashed out from a cane-brake and took them 
captive. 

Their guns and knives were taken from them, and 
they were ordered to follow. At night they encamped 
around a fire where the Indians cooked their evening 
meal and told of their adventures. 

They treated Boone and Stewart well, intending per- 
haps to adopt them into their tribe. Boone knew the 
Indian character so w r ell that he knew just what to do. 
He pretended to be well pleased with his new com- 
panions, and gave them no reason to think that he 
wished to escape. This threw the Indians off their 
guard. 



14 How to Teach History. 

The two men remained with their captors seven days, 
but all this time Daniel Boone was planning how they 
might escape. 

On the seventh night, after the Indians had eaten a 
big supper and w^ere all fast asleep, Boone rose and 
quietly awakened Stewart. He put his mouth to Stew- 
art's ear and whispered, " Don't make the slightest 
noise." 

They each now took a gun and crept with cat-like 
tread out of the camp, and were soon standing under 
the shade of the trees. Not an Indian had stirred. All 
night they walked, guided by the stars overhead and the 
bark of the trees. When morning dawned they found 
that they were not far from their own camp on the 
mountain. They hastened to the spot, but, alas! the 
camp had been broken up and their four companions 
were gone. 

Boone and Stewart never afterward heard of these 
four friends; whether they had been slain by the Indi- 
ans or had gone east to the settlements is not known. 

Daniel Boone and his friend Stewart still remained 
in the forest, but their ammunition was running low, 
and they now used the greatest care to avoid the 
Indians. 

Early in January, as they walked one day near a 
dense wood, they saw in the distance the forms of two 
men. It was too far to distinguish white men from 
Indians, and Boone and Stewart hid behind trees and 
held their rifles ready for use. The men crept cau- 
tiously toward them, and when in hailing distance, 
Boone cried out: 



Teaching Beginners. 1 5 

"Halloo, strangers, who are you?" 

' c White men and friends," came the answer. The 
men now hastened to each other, and you can imagine 
their joy to find that one of the newcomers was Daniel 
Boone's brother, Squire Boone, and the other a friend 
from North Carolina. They had brought a good supply 
of ammunition and the good news that all w r as well at 
home. That night must have been a happy one to those 
four men in the wilderness of Kentucky. 

(The teacher should dilate on the life and habits of 
the Indians, and w T hy they w r ere often hostile to the 
white people.) 

Not long after this happy meeting John Stew^art was 
killed by the Indians, and the other man who came w T ith 
Daniel's brother from North Carolina got lost in the 
w T ood and was never found! The tw r o brothers searched 
for many days in vain, and now they were left alone in 
the depths of the great forest. Again their ammuni- 
tion ran low, and Daniel decided to send his brother for 
a supply and to remain alone in the wilderness. This 
he did, and for three months he was all alone in the 
vast forest exploring the country and hunting wild ani- 
mals. His object was to become familiar with the coun- 
try and then bring his family to dwell there. When 
his brother returned he brought two horses, and the two 
men then spent a year more exploring the country, when 
they decided to return to North Carolina and bring 
their families. You can imagine the joy of Daniel's 
wife and children when he reached his home after being 
away tw r o years. 

It now r took him two years more to sell his farm and 



1 6 How to Teach History. 

prepare his family for the long journey. When they 
went there were several other families who went with 
them. At night they made their camp near a spring or 
stream of water. 

The men cut long poles, laid one end on the ground 
and raised the other on forks. On these sloping poles 
tent-cloth or skins were spread for a roof. A fire was 
then kindled at the open end, and beds were made o( 
leaves and skins on the ground back of the fire. 

It was not a hardship for these travelers to fare in 
this way; they were used to out-door life, and nothing 
pleased them better. They were a happy company as 
they journeyed over the mountains toward the promised 
land, as Boone called it. 

But a great disaster was soon to overtake them. The 
Indians fired on the party and killed several of them, 
one of whom was the eldest son of Daniel Boone, a lad 
of seventeen years. This was sad indeed, and the party 
was so discouraged that they turned aside and settled 
in Virginia, where they remained nearly two years. 
Meantime Boone with a few companions went on to 
Kentucky and built a fort on the Kentucky River, 
calling it Boonesborough, and in the summer of 
1775 he brought his family here and they made this 
place their home. Daniel Boone's wife and daughters 
were the first white women that ever stood on the banks 
of the Kentucky Eiver. But they were not long the 
only women at Boonesborough. Other families joined 
them and they soon had a flourishing little colony. 

The Boones had now been here almost a year and 
nothing serious had happened. But one day in July, 



Teaching Beginners. 1 7 

1TT6 ? a few days after the Declaration of Independence 
was passed by Congress, three Boonesborough girls had 
a strange experience. 

They were Betsey Calloway, her sister Frances, and 
Jemima Boone, daughter of Daniel. Miss Calloway was 
almost a young lady; the two other girls were about 
thirteen years old. The three were playing in a canoe 
on the edge of the river near the fort. They were laugh- 
ing cheerfully and paddling in the water when they 
heard a rustle in the leaves near them. They looked 
up and lo! there stood a big Indian warrior. 

The girls crouched in terror and were about to 
scream, when the Indian nourished a tomahawk over 
their heads and warned them to be silent. He then 
stepped into the canoe and started across the river, still 
threatening them with death if they made any outcry. 
On reaching the shore, he motioned them to leave the 
boat, and they could do nothing but obey. 

They were now joined by several other Indians, and 
they all began the journey through the forest, the girls 
being forced to walk ahead. Thus they walked all day 
and all night, and at the dawn of the next day they 
were more than thirty miles from home. The poor girls 
were very tired, but the Indians feared pursuit and 
would not let them rest. Soon after the capture of the 
girls they were missed by their families. An alarm was 
given, and the men soon found that the canoe had been 
taken across the river. Then they found the tracks of 
the Indian moccasins and understood it all; but it was 
evening, and no pursuit could be begun before morning. 
Xext morning, as soon as it was light enough to follow 



1 8 How to Teach History. 

a trail, they began the pursuit. All the men in the fort 
were ready to go; but Daniel Boone said there must be 
only a few, the bravest men in the fort, the best marks- 
men, and the swiftest runners. He then chose seven 
men besides himself, and they at once set out. 

The Indians expected to be followed, and they had 
gone through a cane-brake, many miles in extent, for 
the purpose of throwing the pioneers off the track. But 
Boone led his men around the cane-brake a distance of 
thirty miles, and sure enough here he found where the 
Indians had left it. The captured girls had broken off a 
twig here and there, or made deeper tracks in the 
ground when they could do so without being noticed. 
Their object was to make the trail easier to follow. The 
evening of the second day came. The poor girls had 
been forced to walk all that time, and they were now 
about fifty miles from home. Their hearts were very 
sad, for they began to fear that they might not be res- 
cued. The Indians now stopped and began to build a 
fire to encamp for the night. 

When Indians take captives, they always kill them, 
if they do not feel sure that they can take them to their 
homes. Had they known that the pioneers were so 
near, these three young girls would no doubt have been 
slain; but they had come so far that they fully believed 
the white men would not find them. While some were 
kindling the fire and the others watching the girls, be- 
hold what happened! Four rifle shots were heard but 
a few rods away, and four Indians fell to the ground 
dead or wounded. 

The next instant eight men rushed into the camp 



Teaching Beginners. 19 

with the speed of deer. The Indians had not time to 
kill their captives; they had to run for their lives, not 
having time to get their guns to take with them. Be- 
fore they got out of reach, two more of them were shot. 
Imagine the joy of these three tired young girls to see 
their fathers and friends come to their rescue. Imagine 
the joy of their mothers when they reached home a 
few days later, safe and sound. 

On the fourth of July, 1777, a large band of Indians 
attacked Boonesborough, and kept up the siege for two 
days, when they were driven off. There were holes in 
the walls of the fort, and every man and boy who could 
handle a gun stood by one of these holes and fired 
whenever he could see an Indian, while the women and 
girls moulded the bullets and loaded the guns. A large 
number of Indians and one man in the fort were killed. 

One day the following winter when Boone was hunt- 
ing alone in the forest he suddenly found himself sur- 
rounded by a large body of Indians. He made a dash 
for liberty, but a dozen howling warriors rushed upon 
him and for the second time in his life he was a pris- 
oner in the hands of the Indians. 

The Indians were very proud of their capture. They 
knew Boone to be the greatest hunter and Indian fighter 
in the AVest, and now they had him in their power, but 
they treated him kindly. They took him across the 
Ohio Eiver to an Indian town on the Little Miami 
Eiver and adopted him into their tribe as a chief's son. 
They then took him to the river and gave him a thor- 
ough scrubbing " to wash the white blood out of him/? 
as they always did when adopting a white person. 



20 How to Teach History. 

Boone pretended to be pleased with his new friends, and 
they came to believe that he was contented to live with 
them; but all the time he was longing for his wife and 
children in far-away Boonesborough. After he had 
been with the Indians seven months he went out to 
hunt one morning, as they thought, but instead he 
started for his home in Kentucky, one hundred and 
sixty miles away. He ran all day and nearly all night, 
and after five days of tramping through the forest he 
reached Boonesborough and seemed to his friends as one 
risen from the dead. But his wife, thinking him dead, 
had gone back to North Carolina, where she was 
living with her father. Some time afterward Boone 
w r ent to North Carolina for his family and brought 
them again to Kentucky. Soon after their re- 
turn occurred the battle of the Blue Licks, the 
story of which fills the saddest page in the 
history of Kentucky. It occurred in August, 
1782. Five hundred Indians, led by a wicked white 
man named Simon Girty, made their way into Ken- 
tucky. In a short time one hundred and eighty men 
started against them. Boone advised them not to do 
so; but they were eager for a fight and rushed on. The 
Indians lay in ambush, hid in the thickets, brush, and 
ravines, until the pioneers came up, when they leaped 
up with dreadful yells and opened fire. 

The white men fought like heroes and killed many; 
but their number was too small for such a force. They 
had to retreat or all would have been slain. But they 
could not go back the way they came; it was filled with 
howling savages. They made a dash for the river near 



Teaching Beginners. 21 

by. Many were struck down with the deadly tomahawk 
before they reached the water's edge, others were shot 
while swimming across, but a great many reached the 
shore and were saved. Let us look for our hero, Daniel 
Boone. Where was he during this fierce battle? He 
was in the midst of the slaughter, and two of his sons 
were fighting by his side. One of them was wounded, 
but escaped; the other fell dead at his father's feet. 
To save him from the scalping-knife, Boone seized the 
lifeless body of the boy, threw it over his shoulder, and 
started to run. But a murderous savage ran toward 
him with uplifted tomahawk. Boone dropped the dead 
boy and shot the Indian dead. 

Again he was about to take up his burden, but a 
dozen red men rushed toward him and he had to leave 
the body and run for his life. He soon reached the 
river, swam across, and was saved. The battle of the 
Blue Licks brought mourning to many a pioneer's home 
in Kentucky. One-third of the men that went into the 
fight were left dead on the field; but so perfect was 
their aim that the loss of the Indians was still greater. 

After the battle of the Blue Licks the Indians never 
again invaded the State of Kentucky with an army; but 
small bands of them often made raids through the set- 
tlements, burning the cabins and murdering or carry- 
ing off the inmates. One day Daniel Boone had an ex- 
perience that might have been serious, but it turned 
out to be amusing. He was in his tobacco house, a 
small enclosure built of rails. He never used tobacco, 
but raised it, as many of the settlers did. In this house 
he had placed tiers of rails, and on these the tobacco was 



ii How to Teach History. 

placed to dry. lie was now standing on the rails above 
the door, removing the dry tobacco to make room for 
the rest of his crop, when four stalwart Indian warriors 
appeared at the door. Boone recognized them as the 
same men who had taken him prisoner near the Salt 
Licks several years before. They knew him, and had 
come a long way for the purpose of capturing him. 
They were able to speak English, and while all pointed 
their muskets toward his breast, one of them said: 

" We got you now, Boone; you no get away; we carry 
you to Chillicothe." Boone pretended to be pleased, 
and said: "How are you, friends? Fm glad to see 
you." 

The Indians knew they were too near the settlements 
to be safe, and ordered Boone to come down immedi- 
ately and follow them. 

u I don't see any help for it," said Boone; " but as I 
have started to shift this tobacco, I hope you'll wait a 
few minutes till I finish it. Just watch the way I do 
it." The four savages became interested in the work 
and stood a few minutes looking up at him. Boone kept 
talking to them as if they were old friends making him 
a pleasant call. Presently he put a large pile of tobacco 
just above their heads and then quickly pulled the rails 
apart. Down came the tobacco into their faces. At the 
same instant the pioneer jumped down among them 
with his arms full of the dry, broken leaves and threw 
it into their eyes and mouths. It was all done so 
quickly that the Indians had no time to prevent it. 

The next moment Boone was running toward his 
cabin. Just before reaching it he looked back and saw 



Teaching Beginners. 23 

the four warriors groping about as if playing blind- 
man's buff, trying to rub the tobacco-dust out of their 
eyes. They were soon off to the woods, and Boone was 
safe in his home. 

I shall here relate one more adventure of Daniel 
Boone — one that he related to a friend when an old 
man, many years after it occurred. He was hunting 
and exploring one day on the banks of the Green Eiver, 
and when night came he prepared and ate his supper 
and lay down to sleep. He had put out his fire so that 
no Indians, if there were any near, could see where he 
w T as. 

Scarcely had he fallen asleep when he felt many 
hands clutching his throat. Opening his eyes he found 
himself in the midst of a mob of Indians. They had 
watched until his fire was extinguished, and then crept 
silently to where he w T as and made him prisoner. Boone 
made no resistance, and they took him to their camp 
a few miles away, where they bound him with cords. 
There were two or three squaws with the warriors, and 
they seemed to take more pleasure in their capture than 
the men. 

They assured Boone again and again that he would 
be put to death the next morning. So great was their 
glee that they danced and sang around the fire for a 
long time. They had a bottle of strong wdiiskey and 
drank of it until some of them could hardly stand. 
Presently a shot was heard near the camp. The Indi- 
ans now consulted for a time and decided that the men 
take their guns and go into the forest to find where the 
shot came from, while the women remain to guard the 



24 How to Teach History. 

prisoner. Soon after the warriors had gone, the squaws 
again began to pass the whiskey bottle from one dirty 
mouth to another. They were soon so drunk that they 
couldn't stand up. They sat down, but still kept drink- 
ing until they rolled over and went to sleep. Boone lay 
there, tightly bound, watching them. He now thought 
his moment for action had come. That night he must 
make his escape or perish on the morrow. But he was 
securely bound hand and foot. What could he do? 
When a man's life is in danger, he can usually find a 
way, if there is a way. Boone rolled over and over till 
he Teached the fire; then he held his wrists to the blaze 
and burned off the cord, though it blistered the skin. 
Next he burned the cords from his feet, and in a few 
minutes he had his rifle and was speeding through the 
darkness toward his home. 

When Kentucky became well settled by white men, 
Daniel Boone, who loved the dense wilderness above all 
things, went farther westward beyond the Mississippi 
Eiver and made the home of his old age in Missouri. 

There was one thing that troubled Boone's conscience 
very much at this time: he had left debts in Kentucky 
to the amount of several hundred dollars. But at last 
he saw a way out. There were many animals in Mis- 
souri whose fur was quite valuable. Boon now hunted 
these and sold the furs for several years, until he had 
made money enough to pay all his debts. 

This honest old man then made the long journey to 
Kentucky and paid off every debt, dollar for dollar. 
When he returned, he had but fifty cents left. " Now," 
he said, " I am willing to die. This burden has long 



Teaching Beginners. 25 

oppressed me; but I have paid every debt, and no one 
can say, when I am gone, ' Boone was a dishonest 
man/ " 

During the last years of his life the great pioneer had 
to give up his favorite pursuit of hunting. He became 
too feeble and his eyesight failed him. His old age was 
made happy by the love of his relatives and friends, who 
almost adored him. 

Many a time, when his hunting days were over, he 
would gather children and young people about him and 
tell stories of his strange, eventful life. He lived to 
be very old, dying in 1820, aged almost eighty-six years. 
His body was laid to rest near his home by the side of 
that of his wife; but many years later both were trans- 
ferred to Frankfort, Ky. The life of Daniel Boone 
was a strange one — full of changes, full of adventures, 
full of success and of failure. He always believed that 
Providence sent him before to prepare the way for civ- 
ilization. The name of Daniel Boone will never be 
forgotten. His fame will go down in our history as the 
greatest of American pioneers. 

One of the interesting subjects for a class of children 
is the change in the means of traveling in the past one 
hundred years. Explain the change from the old stage- 
coach to the modern railroad, from the old sailing-ves- 
sel to the modern steamship. Meantime the story of 
Eobert Fulton is eminently in place. I give it here in 
brief. 

Eobert Fulton was born on a farm near Lancaster, 
Pa. When he was three years old his father died and 
his mother was poor. She moved with her little family 



26 How to Teach History. 

to the town of Lancaster, and Kob was sent to school. 
But his mind was not altogether on books; while still 
a little boy he was always trying to invent or make some 
new thing. When but ten years old he made lead-pen- 
cils almost as good as the best made at that time. At 
thirteen he invented a sky-rocket, and the next year an 
air-gun. During the Eevolutionary War there was a 
gunsmith at Lancaster, and Eobert frequented the place 
until w T hile still a child he became an expert gunsmith. 
He was eleven years old at the time of the Declaration 
of Independence. 

Eobert had also a talent for painting, and at length 
he decided to become an artist. When he was seven- 
teen he went to Philadelphia to take a course in art. 
At the end of four years he was a very good artist and 
he had also saved enough money to purchase for his 
mother a small farm. This he did and then sailed for 
Europe to take a higher course in art. He there be- 
came the guest of the great American artist Benjamin 
West, who also had been born in Pennsylvania but was 
now living in London. Fulton saw, after being there 
a few years, that he could never become a great artist, 
and he decided to revert to the ambition of his child- 
hood and become an inventor. He remained in Eng- 
land several years longer, and while there he invented 
a machine for sawing marble, another for making ropes, 
and several other things. 

But all this time he was thinking about the steam- 
boat. He went to France and there met Mr. Living- 
ston, our minister to that country, and they decided to 
join together and build a steamboat, Fulton furnishing 
the brains and Livingston the money. 



Teaching Beginners. 27 

By and by they had a boat ready to navigate the Seine 
Eiver. Fulton had spent a sleepless night in thinking 
about his new vessel which was to be launched next 
day. On rising in the morning a messenger rushed into 
his room and exclaimed: " Oh, sir, the boat has broken 
to pieces and gone to the bottom! " Fulton was greatly 
grieved. He hastened to the river and began the task 
of raising the boat with his own hands, and kept at it 
for twenty-four hours without food or rest. His health 
was so injured by this exposure that he never fully re- 
covered. The boat was raised and it made a trip on the 
Seine; but it was very imperfect, and Fulton and Liv- 
ingston now determined to make their next experiment 
in America on the Hudson Eiver. They ordered an 
engine from England,, and it reached New York in 180G. 
Soon they had a boat built one hundred and thirty- 
three feet long, and Fulton named it the Clermont, 
after Livingstones country-seat on the Hudson. It was 
August. 1807, when the trial trip was made. A vast 
crowd of people stood on the shore to watch the vessel 
move away. It started up the river at four miles an 
hour. In thirty-two hours it was at Albany, one hun- 
dred and fifty miles away. It seemed like a wonderful 
thing to the people. Some called it a " monster breath- 
ing flames and smoke." 

Within a few years there were steamboats built in 
various parts of the world, and their number has in- 
creased from that time to the present. 

(In connection with this the teacher should take the 
children to visit a steamboat if near navigable water. 
If not, the use of pictures would be very helpful.) 



HI. 
ASSIGNING LESSONS. 

After reaching the grammar-school and high-school 
grades the teaching of history becomes more interest- 
ing even than in the lower grades. The teacher may 
now assume that each pupil knows something of the 
leading characters and events. The teacher should not 
require a uniformity of text-books throughout the class. 
If each pupil has a different book from all the rest, so 
much the better. The method of assigning lessons in 
history is of vital importance. The lesson should ordi- 
narily be assigned by topic, and by all means a forecast 
of it should be given by the teacher. It is to empha- 
size this point that this brief chapter is given. At the 
close of a recitation always devote a few minutes to in- 
teresting the class in the next lesson. 

You may have an irrepressible boy or girl in the class 
— more likely a boy — who knows, or thinks he knows, 
a great deal about the subject. He will probably annoy 
you by. anticipating what you are about to say, or by 
asking you questions about unimportant details that you 
are not prepared to answer. You may find it necessary 
to subdue him by a witty or even cutting answer now 
and then, by keeping a little beyond his depth part of 

28 



Assigning Lessons. 29 

the time at least in giving the forecast, and by asking 
him a direct question that you know he cannot answer. 
Xow to the forecasting of the lesson. Make it as in- 
teresting as possible; hut leave many things untold or 
only half-told, so that all will be anxious to study up 
the subject. Have them get their information wherever 
they can — from the text-books and the cyclopedia, and 
by inquiring of their elders. Let me here give a sample: 
Suppose you have gone over the Revolutionary period, 
the framing of the Constitution and the election of the 
first President, and are ready to begin with the admin- 
istrations. Your next lesson is to be a study of the 
personnel of ^Yasllington 7 s first cabinet. Explain that 
the first cabinet contained but four members— but 
half as many as the present one — and how and why the 
cabinet has grown to its present size. Of these four 
men in Washington's cabinet two were men of national 
fame— Jefferson and Hamilton — of whom every school- 
boy knows something. The other two were well known 
at the time, but now fill a small place in our history. 
The secretary of war was an old Revolutionary general, 
a " hail fellow well met/ 5 very large and corpulent, 
and always ready with a good story and a hearty laugh 
— General Knox. But perhaps it would be well not to 
mention the name. Let them find it out by next day, 
if they can. The other came from that famous presi- 
dent-making State, Virginia. At the opening of the 
Revolution he was a youth and a patriot — but his par- 
ents were tories. He ran away from home and joined 
the army, served through the war, returned to Virginia, 
soon found himself one of the most popular men in the 



30 How to Teach History. 

State and was chosen governor. In 1787 we find him 
in the convention that framed the Constitution, and he 
had much to do in making that instrument what it is. 
Washington now called him to the cabinet as attorney- 
general. 

Some of the class may perceive that you are talking 
about Edmund Eandolph. Attorney-general, what does 
that mean? Transpose the words and you have the 
answer — general attorney, the legal adviser of the chief 
officer of the nation. You may not find much of the 
above in the text-books; but the teacher must be the 
text-book. 



IV. 
IMAGINARY TOURS. 

One of the best diversions in teaching history is to 
take your class on an imaginary historical tour; or if 
your school is an ungraded one, it is well to take not 
only the class in history but the whole school with you. 
Devote half an hour or more to it whenever you can 
spare the time — once or twice a week at least. Begin 
each time where you left off, after reviewing briefly. 
Always be terse and full of enthusiasm. See that your 
dullest boy is following you, and always move on to the 
next place if you see the interest of the class on the 
wane. Follow the tour on a wall-map. The teacher, 
who is not expected to know everything, must read up 
and keep ahead, and by. all means take notes, so that 
if she makes the same tour in future, the material will 
be easy of access. Here is a sample in brief outline: 

" Suppose we begin at the most interesting historic 
town in the United States, the birthplace of the Dec- 
laration of Independence and of the Constitution — 
Philadelphia. Why are many of the streets so narrow? 
Because William Penn and his friends feared the wolves 
and probably the Indians and they wished to live near 
together. Take a good view of Independence Hall and the 
old bell (the most precious historic relic in the United 
States) and many other interesting features. This city 
was the largest in America all through colonial times 

31 



32 How to Teach History. 

and on to about 1820, when New York passed it. No- 
tice Philadelphia in the Revolution, arid before leaving 
take a glance at the city as it now is. Slow? So says 
the newspaper joker. But note the Baldwin Locomo- 
tive Works, the greatest in the world, the two finest 
passenger stations on the continent, and the greatest 
city hall and the largest city park in the world. To- 
morrow we will start westward. 

" Our next objective point is Pittsburg, three hun- 
dred and fifty miles away. Let us go, not in a Pullman 
sleeper, but, since we are studying history, we shall take 
the old stage-coach of a hundred years ago. It is a 
rickety old vehicle at best; and the horses, how jaded 
and worn they are! Day after day we jog along; some- 
times the coach sticks in the mud and all the passengers 
must get down and help lift it out. We pass through 
a village and the people swarm in the streets to get the 
latest news and to see a few strange faces. We stop 
and spend the night at an inn — and what accommoda- 
tions! The horny-handed laborer of to-day would not 
endure such fare and such hard beds. Early in the 
morning we are again plodding along. Across the Sus- 
quehanna Valley and over the mountains— what a long 
and weary journey it has been! — when at the end of 
three weeks we roll into the village of Fort Duquesne. 
Why was the name changed to Pittsburg? The name is 
now the synonym for fire and smoke and iron and bus- 
tling activity." (The teacher should here dilate on Brad- 
dock's defeat, the Whiskey Insurrection of 1794, the 
founding of the Eepublican party in 1856, the railroad 
strike of 1877, etc.) 



Imaginary Tours. 33 

u Leaving the iron city let us float down the Ohio 
Eiver on a steamer, one of the successors of the old 
stage-coach. What a delightful way of traveling! An 
ocean greyhound takes you far from land and home 
and gives you no natural diversion but the wild waste 
of waters; a railway train hurries you over the country 
so fast that you can see but little. But a first-class 
river steamer — here is comfort and leisure; you have 
water and land — and land is home. How interesting to 
come to a new town, to watch the men load and unload 
the vessel, to gaze musingly on the passing cliffs along 
the banks, the bubbling streams as they ripple away 
from their rocky heights and lose their identity in the 
river! 

" We come to the city of Wheeling, W. Va." (Here 
relate the story of Elizabeth Zane.*) " At the time of 
the French and Indian war a wooden fort stood here. 
Some twenty white soldiers occupied it, and one 
woman, a young lady, Elizabeth Zane. The fort was 
surrounded by a large body of Indians. For several 
days the firing was kept up from both sides, when at 
length the powder in the fort began to run low. Some 
rods away there was a cave in which were hidden sev- 
eral kegs of powder, but to get it in the face of the 
Indian fire was perilous. As the men were discussing 
the matter Elizabeth Zane stepped forward and offered 
to go for the powder. They objected, but she insisted, 
saying that the Indians would not fire at her as readily 
as at a man, and that even if she were killed, she could 

* There are other versions of this story, but this seems most 
authentic. 



34 How to Teach History. 

be spared far better than one of the soldiers. At length 
her father, who was one of the company, consented. 
She walked leisurely out of the fort and not a shot was 
fired at her. So much for Indian gallantry. But when 
she reached the cave, threw a keg of powder on her 
shoulder and ran for the fort, a hundred guns were lev- 
eled at her and the bullets whistled about her head; 
but she reached the fort in safety. A few days later a 
body of troops rescued the men and this heroic girl and 
all were saved. 

" We proceed on our journey, floating down the river. 
We reach Marietta, Ohio, founded in 1788 — the year 
between the making of the Constitution and the in- 
auguration of Washington — by Eufus Putnam, the 
6 Father of Ohio/ who came and settled there with 
forty families, built a town and named it in honor of 
the unfortunate Queen of France, Marie Antoinette, 
who was beheaded five years later by the infuriated 
mob at Paris. See the wonderful mounds of a by-gone 
age near the mouth of the Muskingum. Take special 
note of Ohio, the birthplace of great warriors, Pontiac, 
Tecumseh, Grant, Sherman and Sheridan; and of presi- 
dents, Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Harrison and McKinley. 
A few miles below Marietta we come to Blennerhassett's 
Island, made famous by Aaron Burr.* Soon we come 
to Gallipolis (from two Greek words meaning the City 
of the Gauls), founded by Frenchmen." (Note the very 
interesting history of the founding of this town. Give 
special attention also to West Virginia, the War State, 

* For a full account of this see Elson's " Side Lights^ on American 
History," Series I, Chapter VII. 



Imaginary Tours. 35 

noting why and how it was cut off from the Old 
Dominion and became a seperate State in 1863.) 

" Further on we come to Kentucky, the land of Dan- 
iel Boone and of Henry Clay." (Here stop and give a 
character sketch of each of these men.) " Xext we 
reach Cincinnati, formerly called ' The Queen City of 
the West/ but now has many rival queens. Why was 
the city so called? " (Give account of the society from 
which the name was taken and why it was so called.) 
u Further on we come to Louisville, Ky." (Xote the 
operations of Sherman and Buell here during the Civil 
War.) " Before reaching the mouth of the Ohio we 
might take a side trip up the Cumberland to Fort 
Donelson, and another longer one up the Tennessee 
to Shiloh/" (These side excursions are often very in- 
teresting, but the teacher should never remain long 
away from the main thread of the story.) "We go 
back and resume our journey. Just below Cairo, 111., 
our vessel swings out into the great river, the Father 
of Waters/' (Here write on the blackboard " De Soto, 
1541." The teacher should often write out a noted 
name or date and leave it in view of the school for sev- 
eral days.) " The story of De Soto — what a pathetic 
tale! What a beautiful love-story between him and Isa- 
bella, who loved and waited for fifteen years — then 
came a few years of happiness too ravishing to endure. 
How sad his long and weary search for gold! And at 
last, when worn and weary and ready to die, he does 
the one thing, all unconsciously, that brings him im- 
mortal fame — he discovers the great, majestic river, 



36 How to Teach History. 

and his name through it is forever linked with Ameri- 
can history. 

" Note various points of interest as we steam down 
the Mississippi — Island No. 10, Memphis, and others, 
until we come to Vicksburg." (Write "July, 1863," 
and after dwelling on the subject for some time, con- 
nect it with Gettysburg and both with our national 
holiday. The connecting link in this case is one of 
time, not of space. Always see that there is a connect- 
ing link, an endless chain.) 

" Near the mouth of the great river we come to a 
city of great historic interest, New Orleans." (Write 
on the board " Jan. 8, 1815," and dilate on Old Hickory 
as long as you think it profitable.) 

Here we close this brief outline. I w r ould advise the 
teacher to take an ocean vessel at this point, to touch 
at Vera Cruz and bring up the story of the Mexican 
War, at Cuba and bring in the Spanish War, and then 
follow up the Atlantic coast, stopping at Savannah, 
Charleston, etc., coming at length .to the great metropo- 
lis of this western world, the city of New York. 

Such a tour, if well managed by the teacher, is in- 
tensely interesting and might extend through a whole 
winter; but the time so used should not be taken from 
the regular history lesson. The teacher should tell the 
story and have various pupils repeat it in review until 
all the important points are fixed in the minds of all. 
Similar tours may be made through the Great West and 
various parts of the country. Certainly there is noth- 
ing more instructive and interesting in the way of 
extras that a teacher can introduce than the imaginary 
tour. 



V. 
DATES. 

Oxe of the most important subjects with which we 

have to deal in the study and teaching of history is the 
subject of dates. Frequently I have been asked by 
teachers about this subject. Shall we teach many 
dates? How can Ave remember dates and have our pu- 
pils remember them? 

Let me say at the outstart, You must remember some 
dates. They are to the student of history what the 
milestone is to the traveler. History without dates .is 
like geography without distance. If you find it diffi- 
cult, as many do, or almost impossible, as some do, to 
remember dates, you must force your mind to retain 
a few of the most important. I would not advise one 
whose mind does not readily retain dates to feel the 
necessity of remembering a great many. Choose out a 
central date and group around it minor events of the 
same period. Take, for example, the year of the Dec- 
laration of Independence, and it will not be difficult for 
you to remember that the Battle of Bunker Hill came 
the year before and the Battle of Brandywine the year 
after. Thus you have the dates of three events by 
remembering the figures of but one. Now enlarge the 

37 



38 How to Teach History. 



& 



group; two years before the Declaration the Continental 
Congress met, and two years after it the Battle of 
Monmouth occurred and the treaty with France was 
made^ while five years after the Declaration the British 
surrendered at Yorktown, and eleven years after it the 
Constitution was framed. Drill your mind for a while 
with this group and it will become indelibly fixed. 

Another good plan is to make chains. For instance, 
1832 is remembered on account of Nullification in 
South Carolina — one hundred years before that George 
Washington was born (which was the year before the 
founding of Georgia), and a hundred years before the 
birth of Washington the charter of Maryland was issued 
to Cecillius Calvert. In this year also occurred the Bat- 
tle of Lutzen in Germany in which the great Swedish 
King, Gustavus Adolphus, was killed. Thus by means 
of. this chain, which is not at all difficult to remember, 
you have the dates of several important events. Many 
such chains may be made for the benefit of the teacher 
as well as of the pupil. 

When quite a young boy I saw a picture of Shake- 
speare reading one of his plays before Queen Elizabeth. 
I knew something of Shakespeare and of Elizabeth; but 
never before had it dawned on my mind that they lived 
at the same time. The picture made a life-long im- 
pression on me. The teacher can frequently make im- 
aginary groups of historic characters, and thus make a 
deep impression on the minds of the pupils. 

Another form of grouping is to choose out a year and 
group the events of that year. Here is a sample: 1837, 
what does it bring to the mind? The great panic, the 



. Dates. 39 

invention of the telegraph, admission of Michigan into 
the Union, the Canadian Rebellion and the accession of 
Queen Victoria. Two of these are foreign. All right. 
Always get in, when convenient, the chief events of for- 
eign history while teaching American history. Xow 
how can we group these five events? Very easily; the 
device may seem foolish, but if it does the work, we 
must excuse that. Here it is: Imagine Queen Victoria, 
a beautiful young woman of eighteen, crossing from 
Canada into Michigan, in a Bankrupt condition (on ac- 
count of the panic), and asking for money by telegraph. 
What nonsense! But with that one sweep of the im- 
agination you have those five events welded together 
inseparably, and by remembering one date you have 
them all. You might then add a little to the nonsense 
and to your knowledge of dates by imagining the Queen 
carrying two new-born infants in her arms, both born 
that year — 1837, both to become world-famous ere the 
end of the century, one a Briton, the greatest of living 
poets (Swinburne), and the other an American, a future 
president of the United States (Grover Cleveland). 

Let me now lead you into a larger field of nonsense. 
Do you know the date of the admission of each state 
into the Union? It is not essential for you to know 
them all, but it is very convenient. It may be difficult 
for you to remember them arbitrarily, but with a little 
machinery you will have no trouble. 

Go to the blackboard. Imagine it a map of the 
United States. (Do not use a real map.) Call for the 
name and date of the admission of the first State (i.e., 
the fourteenth), Vermont, 1791. Xow place a figure 1 



40 How to Teach History. 

(the last figure of the date) on the imaginary map where 
Vermont ought to be. Call for the next, Kentucky, 
1792, and put a 2 where Kentucky ought to be. Next, 
Tennessee, 1796, and put a 6 on the right spot. Fourth, 
Ohio, 1802, and put the 2 on Ohio. Now point to these 
four figures successively and say the words, " one, two, 
six, two." Eepeat it a dozen times or more and have 
the class repeat it with you, always pointing to the fig- 
ure as you say it. It might be well to use a real map 
for young pupils. With a few minutes' drill on this 
the dullest pupil will remember for life the dates of the 
admission of these four States. 

Now we go to the year of the opening of our second 
war with England. Early in the year 1812, there was 
born in the South a little girl and her name was Ana. 
Four years later she had a sister born in the North and 
called by the same name. The first name of the elder 
is Louisi, and of the younger Indi — and does not this 
teach you the admission of Louisiana and of Indiana? 

Here now is a batch of five States coming into the 
Union in five successive years. Write on the board 
" Missillalamemo." It is a smooth, easy word to pro- 
nounce, if word it may be called. Say it over and after 
it say " 17, 18, 19, 20, 21." 

Now write it thus: Miss 111 Ala Me Mo, and have the 
class say it until it becomes as familiar as the name of 
Abraham Lincoln, repeating the numbers often enough 
to remember what they are used for. It is needless to 
explain the meaning of the above — that Mississippi was 
admitted in 1817, Illinois in 1818, etc. 

Now we have a lapse of fifteen years; Arkansas com- 



Dates. 41 

ing next in 1836 and Iowa ten years later. Say " Arki " 
(long sound of i) " 36, 46/' several times and you have 
those two. But there were three admissions between 
these two. Michigan we have treated in connection 
with the English Queen. Now for the remaining two. 
Make on the board a star — a lone star — hang over it a 
wreath of flowers and place beneath it the number 45. 
Every pupil will recognize in a moment that the lone 
star stands for Texas, the wreath for Florida, and that 
the two States were admitted, in 1845. Xext treat Wis- 
consin and Minnesota as we did Arkansas and Iowa. 
Write " Wismin, 48 and 58," and repeat until familiar. 
California comes in the middle — i.e., the middle of the 
century (1850) — who can forget that? Oregon was the 
Valentine of 59. What pretty poetry! — and it gives you 
the day and the month (Feb. 14) as well as the year. 
Xext Kansas, the great battle-ground between Freedom 
and Slavery, came in with the first year of the war, 
1861. 

But the War State is West Virginia, torn from one of 
the old Thirteen in the midst of the fray and admitted 
in 1863. Dilate on this and the admission of Xevada 
the following year (the only two States admitted during 
the war, as Kansas came in in January, '61, before the 
opening of hostilities) until the class is familiar with 
both. 

"Xebraska and Alaska, 1867." More poetry! Ex- 
plain, of course, that Alaska is not a State, but was pur- 
chased from Russia in 1867. Xo more now for nine 
years, when Colorado became the Centennial State. 
Another interval, thirteen years, when we have the larg- 



42 How to Teach History. 

est accession in one year in our history. Three in a row: 
Washington, Montana and North Dakota (but for the 
narrow end of Idaho separating two of them), and North 
Dakota^s twin sister, South Dakota — all four in 1889. 

Now w r rite Idah, Wy and 189. Call attention to it, 
and while the class is wondering what you are aiming 
at place o after each, and you will have Idaho, 
Wyo(ming) and 1890. This closes the list except 
Utah, which came in a hundred years after Tennessee. 

A vigorous drill on the above a few times will enable 
every pupil to remember permanently the time of the 
admission of every State in the Union. 



VI. 
MISCELLANY, 

The teacher must ever be awake in keeping the inter- 
est of a class in a good, healthy condition. In addition 
to the regular routine work and to putting into prac- 
tice suggestions of the preceding pages, it is well at 
times to spring something new and unexpected on the 
class. Xever allow them to fathom your full stock of 
information' or resources. 

Ask a question to be answered or discussed the next 
day or the next week, and always one that requires 
thought or research. Here are a few samples: Why 
did the English, colonists succeed in the Xorth, while 
the Spaniards failed in the South? Why are so many 
of the names of our rivers and lakes Indian names, 
while the cities generally bear English names? Why 
did the Xorthern States emancipate their slaves soon 
after the Revolution, while* the Southern States retained 
theirs? Which is more important, Liberty or Union? 
Why is our government a federal government? and how- 
does a federal differ from a confederate government? 
What three States in the Union were at some time inde- 
pendent of all the rest? 

Again, the teacher can often awaken a sleepy class 

43 



44 How to Teach History. 

by some odd question like this: Which was the longest 
battle of the Revolution? Give it up? The Battle of 
Lexington — 16 miles long. Or this: Strange that the 
English could not enter Baltimore in 1814 when they 
had the Key. After the pupils have puzzled awhile 
over it tell them that you mean Francis Scott Key. Or, 
make a blundering statement, as: Eev. Samuel Kirkland 
was a missionary among the Indians during the Revolu- 
tionary War for forty years. The hands will soon go 
up and you will be informed that the war did not con- 
tinue for forty years. Sure enough. But here are the 
facts: Rev. Kirkland was a missionary among the Indi- 
ans for forty years, and they included the period of the 
Revolution, — and all the class will remember it because 
of the unusual way in which you stated it. If a man 
enters your house in the usual way, you may forget it 
in a week; but if he comes in through the window in- 
stead of the door, you will not readily forget it. 

Use as much wit as you can in teaching your class. 
Here is an attempted sample. Suppose you are describ- 
ing the Battle of Lake Champlain, 1814. The land 
forces were commanded by General Macomb, and the 
naval forces by Commodore Macdonough: the two 
Macs. " The land forces were led by Mac — what is his 
name?" Here produce a comb — and you will impress 
the name upon the class. " Now the other Mac — what 
is his full name? You tell me, John." "Do' know," 
answers the boy. " Right, my boy; go up head, Mac 
do nough." 

One more point, one that you should often put into 
practice and will always awaken a deep interest by it. 



Mi seel i any. 45 

Describe a character without giving the name. When 
any pupil is sure he knows whom you are talking about 
let him raise his hand, but not mention the name. 

For example: " There was a child horn in the West 
Indies about eighteen years before the outbreak of the 
Revolution (the same year in which Robert Burns was 
born); when a boy he became an orphan and removed 
to Boston, then to Xew York City, entered Kings (now 
Columbia) College, which he left to join the army, 
became a member of "Washington's staff, and specially 
distinguished himself at Yorktown." (Perhaps by this 
time a few hands will be up. If so, have those pupils 
write the name of the character on a slip of paper and 
hand it to you, without revealing their discovery to the 
rest — and you proceed.) "He helped frame the Consti- 
tution, became a great lawyer, married a daughter of 
General Schuyler, entered Washington's cabinet as Sec- 
retary of the Treasury and proved himself a great finan- 
cier." (More hands will now be up; have them hand 
in name and go on.) " He was the acknowledged leader 
of the first great political party in America — the Fed- 
eral party. At length in the midst of his great life he 
was slain in a duel in 1804 by the Vice-President of 
the United States." 

Every one will now see that you are talking of Alex- 
ander Hamilton. 

Take a character somewmat less conspicuous than 
Hamilton. 

" There was a young officer with Hull at the surren- 
der of Detroit in 1812, and rather than give up his 
sword to the British general, he broke it across a stone. 



46 How to Teach History. 

Afterward when Michigan Territory was recovered from 
the British he succeeded Hull as governor and held the 
post for eighteen years. Who was it?" (Perhaps a 
hand or two will be up; perhaps none.) " Seeing that 
Detroit was sure to become a city, he, wise man that he 
was, purchased a large farm near the village, and the 
farm was overspread by the growing city and it in- 
creased in value until its owner became a millionaire. 
We next find him in Jackson^ s cabinet as Secretary of 
War; a little later he is minister to France, and next a 
United States senator from Michigan. In 1848 he is 
made the nominee for the presidency by the Democrats. 
Had he been elected he would have been our first and 
thus far our only millionaire president. Note that. It 
means something. In this era of vast wealth we have 
never had a millionaire president. Money cannot pur- 
chase everything. This man was not elected; he was 
defeated by the old hero of Buena Vista, Zachary Tay- 
lor." Most or all will know by this time that you are 
talking $bout General Lewis Cass. This means of diver- 
sion is one of the most effective that a teacher can 
employ. 



VII. 
GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESSION. 

" Which came first, the Battle of Monmouth or the 
Battle of Brandy wine?" Frequently have I put this 
question or a similar one to large bodies of teachers at 
institutes, and asked for an immediate answer. Usu- 
ally not one in ten could answer without thinking for 
a minute or two, while some found it - difficult to answer 
at all. How much more would this be true of a class of 
pupils, unless they were studying the Revolution at the 
time! To know the order of the battles of a war may 
not be very important, but it is quite handy and con- 
venient; yet it is the easiest thing to get them mixed, 
if one depends wholly on the memory. Here is a little 
device by which you can fix in the mind in a few min- 
utes the proper order of Washington's battles in the 
Revolution so indelibly that you could never forget it 
if you were to try. 

Draw the figure on the blackboard. Do not use a 
map, as the figure is more striking without it. Begin 
at Boston and draw a line to Long Island, thence north- 
ward to White Plains, and thence southwest across Xew 
Jersey to Trenton. The first time you make the figure 
it is well to look at the map to get the directions and 

47 



48 How to Teach History, 

approximate length of each line. From Trenton we go 
up to Princeton, thence to Morristown, and from there 
we swing around through New Jersey across the Dela- 
ware to Brandywine. From Brandywine or Chad's Ford 
we proceed to Germantown, thence to Valley Forge, and 
from there to the battlefield of Monmouth. This was 











pB. 






W.P / 








M. 


/ ^L.i. 








F /A 








V.F.q- 


t^t 1/ 


fM. 









y>G>/ 


B.*^ 











Washington's Itinerary in the Revolution. 

the last regular battle fought on Northern soil. Thus 
we have Washington's itinerary in the North. What an 
odd-looking figure it makes— but how useful! 

Notice that the line from Boston to Long Island is a 
direct line, whereas Washington did not take his army 
by a direct route. If we were to follow his exact route 
showing all the circumlocutions that he made, our fig- 
ure would become finical and less striking than it is, 



Geographical Progression, 49 

When he retreated across New Jersey he went by way 
of Hackensack, Newark and New Brunswick; but that 
fact is not of special importance to us. We want only 
the objective points, hence we make a direct line. 
From Morristown to Brandywine we have a curved line 
through New Jersey, for convenience only, as Wash- 



Cairo 



3elmont , 
Jfov^m? <*— -^__ ^FtJDonelson 

' f Feb„l86Z 




Vicksburg 
July A,1 863 



Grant's Operations in the Mississippi Valley, 1861-63. 

ington did rot take this route. If desired, the name of 
the place and date of the battle may be placed at each 
point where the battle was fought. After the teacher 
has made the figure and the pupils have become familiar 
with it each one should be required to make it. This 



$o How to Teach History. 

means may be employed in following other generals or 
armies in various wars, and also in following the ex- 
plorations of De Soto, Marquette, Lewis and Clarke and 
others. I give above one more — showing the operations 
of General Grant in the Mississippi Valley during the 
first years of the Civil War. 

It will be more difficult to use this means where many 
battles are fought within a narrow space — as in Virginia 
during the Civil War — and it can be done only by using 
a map made on a large scale. 



VIII. 
THE HISTORICAL OBELISK. 

The historical obelisk is one of the most useful de- 
vices that a teacher can employ. It presents to the eve 
the succession of events as a map presents distance and 
direction. It is far superior to the historical chart, 
because it gives a central date to which and from which 
all others are reckoned, and the relative distances are 
thus presented to the eye in so striking a way that they 
cannot be forgotten. In the following plates it will 
readily be seen that all events that occurred before the 
central date at the top are put on the left, while those 
following are on the right. The time of an event before 
or after the central date is shown by its distance from 
the top. This indeed is the strong feature of the 
obelisk. One who remembers dates with great difficulty 
may find it easy to remember the location of a phrase or 
sentence on a page. The historical obelisk should not 
only be studied, but reproduced on the blackboard and 
on paper, by the teacher and by the pupils, until it 
becomes so familiar that the location of everything will 
be perfectly remembered. 

In Plate I two centuries of our history are given, the 
date 1800 being chosen arbitrarily. The large divi- 
sions on each side are decades where the date is written 
out in full, while the small ones are years. The exact 
date of any event may be given by placing the last figure 

5i 



5 3 



How to Teach History. 



Plate I 




1800 


Alien 8c Sedrtion laws; 


[1 


Louisiana Purchase 


Jay Treaty - 


~ 




Whiskey Insurrectio 


n ; 


- 




Genel 






Embargo 


Washington inaugurated 


;-1790 


1810 : 




Constitution framec 


; 


: 


War of 1812 


Treaty of Peace 


- 


: 




Yorktown 


^-1780 


1820 ] 


Purchase of Florida 

Missouri Compromise 


Monmonth 

Declaration of Independence 


I 




Monroe Doctrine 


Bunker Hill 


; 




Panama Congress 


D , L ea Part y 

Boston Massacre- 


i 1770 


1830 










Nullification in S<C. 


Stamp Act 






Whig Party founded 


Treaty of Paris, 






; Great Panic 


Conspiracy of Pontiac. 


-1760 


1840- 




French & Indian War 






-Webster-Ashburton Treaty 








Annex, of Texas 








"Mexican War 


j 


-1750 


1850- 


-Discovery of Gold 








I Lopez expedition 


King George's War; 






-Kansas Nebraska Bill 


; 






-Republican Party founded 


Negro Plotj 


1740 


1860- 


-Lincoln-Douglas Debates 


- 






-Bull Run 


J 






I Gettysburg 


- 






-Appomattox 


Georgia settled I 






z 


Washington born - 






- 


N. 8c S.Carolina separated - 


1730 


1870 


iPacific R.R. finished 


I 






- Great Panic 


J 




-Hayes-Tilden contest 




1720 


1880 


. ~ Specie payment resumed 


| 






; Death of Garfield 


Peace of Utrecht" 






'. Tariff Message of Cleveland 


- 1 

- 


710 


1890 


-- 


Queen Anne's War: 






\ 


- 






■ Silver Campaign 


: 


Two Centuries 


Spanish War 


--1 


700 of 


190C 


-£- 


American History 



The Historical Obelisk. 53 

of the date within the obelisk. For example-, the Lin- 
coln-Douglas Debates are seen at a glance to be be- 
tween 1850 and I860, nearer the latter, while the figure 
8 may be placed inside the line to show that the exact 
date is 1858. 

In Plate II the Civil War is shown. The large divi- 
sions are now years and the small ones months. The 
central date is the middle of the year 1863, and it is 
much better to have an important central date than an 
arbitrary one as in Plate I. Here at a glance you see 
the whole sweep of events during the Civil War and 
their relative distance in time from one another. Any 
war or important period may be mapped in the same 
way. In making a plate of the Ee volution the Declara- 
tion of Independence should be placed at the apex. 

Plate III is probably the most interesting of all. It 
shows the world's history with the birth of Christ as the 
central date. The divisions are now centuries, and it is 
necessary to use two figures within the lines to show the 
exact date of an event. 

How interesting it is to note that the founding of 
Carthage took place as long before as the reign of Al- 
fred the Great was after the birth of Christ, that the 
career of Mohammed is about the same time after the 
beginning of the Christian Era as the Jewish Babylon- 
ian Captivity before it, and that the leading of Israel 
across the Red Sea by Moses occurred exactly as long 
B.C. (except one year) as the discovery of America by 
Columbus a.d.! By studying the plate any one can 
readily fix in the mind the date of all the leading events 
in the history of the world. 



54 



How to Teach History. 



TPlate II 



Admission of West Virginia 

Chancellorsville 



Gettysburg-Vicksburg 

Draft Riots in N.Y, 




Emancipation Proclamation --1863Januarv-|ag4__ 

Stone River 



February 



Chickamauga 



Lookout Mountain 



Antietam 



Malvern Hill 

Fair Oaks 

Capture of New Orleans 
Shiloh 

Monitor & Merrimac 

Pea Ridge 

Fort Do net son 

Mill Spring 



Belmont 
Balls Bluff 



Wilson's Creek 
Bull Run 



December 

November 

October 

September 

August 

July 

June 
May 

April 

March 

February 



February 

March 

April 

May 

June 

July 

August 

September 

October 

November 

December 



1862 January 1865 
December February 



Blockade proclaimed 

Fall of Fort Sumter 



Secession ._ 



November 
October 
September 
August 

July 

June 

May 

April 

March. 

February 



March 
April 
May 
June 
July 

August 
September 

October 
November 
December 



Red River Expedition 

Grant in the Wilderness 

Cold Harbor 

Alabama & Kearsarge 
. Atlanta Campaign 

_ Mobile blockaded 
Cedar Creek 



Sherman's march to the Sea 
Nashville 



Capture of Wilmington 



Appomattox 

Assassination Lincoln 



Grand Review 



t 



1861 Janu «y 1866 
The Civil War 



Thirteenth Amendment 
Adopted 



The Historical Obelisk. 



55 



Plate III 



Birth of Christ 



Battle of Actium — [31 
Assassination of Caesar 

Rome conquers Palestine' 

Rome conquers Greece. 
Third Punic War. 
Destruction of Carthage- 




Second Punic War 
First Punic War- 



Death of Demothenes 
Death of Alex, the Great- . 

Battle of Arbella^ 
Death of Socrates 



.64-41 

-300 

22 



Sparta conquers Athens 

Thermopylae- 
Battle of Marathon 
Rome becomes a Republic - 
Cyrus founds Persia . 
Jews carried into Captivety- 

4600 
Destruction of Niveveh — 00 



200 

13-02 



"400 

05 







Destruction of Sennacherib 



Rome founded — 



500 

09 



+700 

17 



Carthage founded' 



Revolt of 10 Tribes" 
Solomon builds Tern pie - 

David becomes King of Israel- 
Cheops builds first Pyramid'; 

Samuel Judge of Israel 
Trojan War- 

Argonautic Expedition - 



-800 

-80 

900 

75 
1000 

"04 

55 

fioo 



,78-63 

-1200 



1300 



1400 



Joshua enters Canaan-> 
Moses leads Israel ) 
over Red Sea j \L„ 

Thebes founded t1500 
Cecrops founds Greece- 



Death of Augustus 
Crucifixion of Christ 

Nero burns Rome 

Jerusalem destroyed 
'. ^Destruction of Herc ulaneum 
^Death of StJoh^ \& Pompeii 



200 

20 



300 

23- 



-Death of Marcus Aurelius 
-Persian Empire begun 



95- 
400 - 

10- 

76 

500-f 



" "_Contantine becomes Christian 
-Council of Nice 

Julian the Apostate Emperor 
"Death of Theodosius 
Alaric pillages Rome 

Defeat of Attilla 

Fall of Rome 

Clovis King of the Franks dies 
-Death of Justinian 



65- 

600 

-The Hegira 
•32-j- Death of Mohammed 

700 

12 — Saracens Conquer Spain 



800 

27- 

71- 

900 



fl 



-- Charlemagne Crowned 
Kingdom of England founded 

( Alfred the Great becomes 
( King of England 
or+~ Death of Alfred 



81- —Greenland Discovered 
lOOOl 

Canute King of England 

-Battle of Hastings 

I fflfiX "F'fst Crusade begun 



"3rd Crusade 



90- 

1200- 

15 +~ Magna Charta 



70- 

1300 " 

14 

4C- 
56" 

1400 



{ 



Thirty two v. 
1600^ / . 1600 
Centuries 



Seventh CrusadtJ 

Battle of Bannockburn 
Battle of Crecy 
Battle of Poitiers 



Wars of the Roses begin 
Birth of Luther 

15QQ-~Columbu s discov ers 

lr g— Balboa discovers X Ameri 
"^ Luther begins^Pacific Ocean 

r* _ _ A *P v |-^tiTn 



nquersN ^ 
TTTeT^M 



eformatton 



_>\ Council o' 
| Massacre of St. Bartholomew 



IX. ' 
CURRENT HISTORY. 

One of the absolute essentials in teaching history is 
to keep track of current events. This should always be 
put in as an extra and should not interfere with the 
regular lesson. Some teachers devote a few minutes to 
passing events immediately before the regular class- 
work begins. This is a good arrangement; but perhaps 
it is better to choose out one or two days each week on 
which to give special attention to current history. 

The teacher should first call on the class to mention 
any important happenings since the last notice of the 
subject. She should then make a general resume and 
point out the more important subjects, calling special 
attention to the advisability of avoiding sensational 
matter. Thus the teacher can do much toward creat- 
ing a healthy moral sentiment in the pupils, and mak- 
ing them discriminating readers of the newspapers. It 
is well to take a newspaper into the school-room and 
point out the best things, avoiding the objectionable 
matter. Young boys and girls should be taught that 
the newspaper is an indispensable educator, but that it 
contains a good deal of matter that is at least valueless, 
if not harmful. 

56 



Current History. 57 

In addition to the regular newspaper the teacher 
should by all means take a journal (weekly or semi- 
monthly) devoted wholly to current history. By this 
she will get the summing up of the important news in 
condensed form. Many a teacher is so busy and hard- 
worked that she finds it impossible to condense the 
news from the voluminous newspapers and put it into 
a form suitable for school-work, hence such a journal 
becomes a necessity.* 

In teaching current events the teacher should never 
fail to connect them with the past when practicable. 
Many happenings of the day are of such a character 
that it is easy to give them a historic setting and thus 
make them doubly interesting and instructive. A few 
examples will illustrate: 

Congress has recently met or is soon to meet, and 
one of the first duties of the Lower House is to choose 
a Speaker. That introduces the subject. Who is the 
Speaker of the House, and why so called? For the 
origin of this use of the word we must go away back 
into English history when the leader of the House of 
Commons was the chief speaker to the King, and hence 
he was called " The Speaker," and we have simply bor- 
rowed the name. 

Next, the power of our Speaker of the House, which 
ranks next to that of the President in shaping national 
legislation. In what way? Principally through his 
power of appointing committees. If he opposes any 

*One of the best journals of this kind published, and at a very 
moderate price, is " Our Times/' issued by E, L, Kellogg" & Co,, 
of New York. 



58 How to Teach History. 

proposed law, lie may, and usually does, appoint a com- 
mittee unfavorable to it; but if he favors it, he puts it 
into the hands of a committee that agrees with him. 
And in perhaps nine cases out of ten the House will 
adopt the report of the committee. Thus it will be 
seen what a power the Speaker has in shaping laws. 

The teacher may then very profitably dilate on the 
leading Speaker^ of the House in our history. 
, Henry Clay served longer in this position than any 
other, about ten years in all. He was elected on the first 
clay that he entered the House as a member. They 
" wanted one who had the nerve to curb John Kan- 
dolph," it was said. Clay as Speaker did more than 
any one else to bring about the War of 1812, as also 
the Missouri Compromise. 

Some of the ablest Speakers of the House have served 
since the Civil War — Blaine, Kandall, Carlisle, Crisp, 
and Keed. Many of the speakers have aspired to the 
presidency, but only one succeeded and that was James 
K. Polk, who served two terms as Speaker, 1835-9. 

The death of a great man furnishes an excellent text 
for the teacher in bringing up historical reminiscences. 
Take John Sherman, whose death not long since re- 
moved one of the most interesting historic landmarks 
of the generation. How interesting to a class is a brief 
resume of his life! He was a member of the Whig 
Convention that nominated Zachary Taylor for the 
presidency in 1848. He entered the Lower House of 
Congress in 1855, and some years later was transferred 
to the Senate, in which he served more than thirty 
years. He was one of the senators avIio sat in judgment 



Current History. 59 

011 President Andrew Johnson at the great trial in 1868. 
During the presidency of Hayes we find him in the cabi- 
net as Secretary of the Treasury, where lie proved him- 
self one of the four greatest financiers this country has 
ever had. Only Hamilton, Gallatin and Chase can he 
ranked with him. At last Sherman rounded his long 
public career by a brief service in the cabinet of 
McKinley. 

Take now a foreign subject. The meeting of the 
British Parliament is a good one. Explain that while 
our Congress is elected for two years, and always serves 
the full time, Parliament is elected for seven years 
and very seldom serves the full time. When the gov- 
erning party in England is defeated in any important 
measures, the ministry resigns, Parliament is dissolved 
and a new election is held. Then again the working of 
Parliament is very different from that of our Congress. 
The Ministry proposes laws, Parliament passes them 
and that is final. In our country the President and 
Cabinet have no part in introducing measures, and 
when a law is passed it may be rendered null and void 
by the Supreme Court. 



X 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

The first chapter of this little volume, on Collateral 
Reading, is intended to impress the teacher with the 
great importance of reading beyond the bounds of the 
condensed text-book. In this final chapter I shall give 
a short list of books, with some comment, for handy 
reference. By far the best thing in this line is Chaning 
and Hart's " Guide to American History "; but this is 
not always accessible and the teacher needs a briefer 
guide always at hand. No teacher is expected to read 
all or even half that has been published on American 
history. Some of the works named below you may find 
in your own possession; others may be readily obtained 
in libraries to which you may have access. It is un- 
fortunately true that in many rural districts there is 
not even a school library. In such cases the teacher 
should by all means build up a library of her own, and 
the most progressive teacher will do this even where 
there are public libraries. If you set apart ten dollars 
each year for books on various subjects you will have 
in a few years an excellent working library — as indis- 
pensable to successful teaching as the tools of a me- 
chanic are to his work. 

In the following list the publishers and prices will 
not be given, as any bookseller can furnish this informa- 

60 



Bibliography. 61 

tion, or any book may be purchased through E. L. 
Kellogg & Co., the publishers of this volume. 

" Epochs in American History/' three vols. Vol. I. 
" The Colonies/' by Beuben Gold Thwaites; Vol. II. 
"Formation of the Union/'' by Albert Bushnell Hart; 
Vol. III. " Division and Reunion/' by Woodrow Wilson. 

Note. — This set of three small volumes by three of our ablest 
historians is placed first, and I recommend that they be the first 
purchase by the teacher, aside from the text-books. The facts 
are presented clearly and tersely from the standpoint of the spe- 
cialist. 

" Side Lights on American History/' two vols., by 
Henry W. Elson. Vol. I. " The National Period Be- 
fore the Civil War." Vol. II. " The Civil War and Our 
Own Times." 

Note. — This work was written for the higher grade schools, and 
above all for teachers. It is a larger and more exhaustive treat- 
ment of about thirty of the most important events in our history 
than can be found in the shorter histories. It has been highly 
commended by the press and by educators; but a further notice in 
this place would not be fitting, as the writer of these lines is the 
author. 

" Dictionary of United States History/' Jameson. 

Note. — It is impossible to overestimate the importance of such 
a book as this for the teacher's library. With the three above 
mentioned as indispensable we proceed with groups for certain 
periods. 

For the Period of Discovery axd Coloxiza- 
tiox. — Fiske's " Discovery of America," two vols. Also, 
by the same author, " Old Virginia and Her Neighbors," 
" Beginnings of New England," and " The Dutch and 
Quaker Colonies," three vols.; -Lodge's "English Colo- 
nies in America"; Eggleston's "Beginners of a Nation "; 
the first volumes of Hildreth and Bancroft, and of 
AYinsor's "Narrative and Critical History"; Doyle's 



6 2 How to Teach History. ■ 

" English Colonies in America " Palfrey's " History 

of New England," and the works of Francis Parkman. 

Note — Any good library will liave most or all of the above. 
John Fiske has no superior as a learned historian, and his style is 
easy and pleasant to read. The teacher should own two or three 
at least of his books. Lodge is good, but less fascinating than 
Fiske, or Eggleston's " Beginners of a Nation." Doyle is English 
and writes from the English standpoint, his work is very useful, 
but Palfrey thus far is the great historian of New England. For 
the French and IndianWar period one writer covers the ground and 
exhausts the subject — Francis Parkman. His work is published 
in nine volumes, the respective titles of which indicate the nature 
of the contents. In beauty of style Parkman stands first among 
our American historians. 

For the Revolution. — Frothingham's " Eise of the 
Republic"; Fiske's " American -Revolution "; Win-sor's 
"Hand-book of the Revolution"; Lossing's "Pictorial 
Field-book of the Revolution "; and the works of Ban- 
croft and Hildreth. For the causes leading up to the 
Revolution there is nothing better than Wells's " Life 
of Samuel Adams." For the brief period between the 
Revolution and the adoption of the Constitution there 
is nothing to compare with Fiske's " Critical Period " 
and the first volume of Curtis's " History of the Con- 
stitution." 

For the National Period. — McMaster's "History 
of the People of the United States," five vols.; Schou- 
ler's " History of the United States," six vols.; Rhodes's 
" History of the United States from the Compromise 
of 1850," four vols.; Henry Adams's "History of the 
United States " (Administrations of Jefferson and Mad- 
ison), nine vols. 

Note. — McMaster's work is a wonderful treasure-house of facts; 
his style is pleasing-, but unvaried, and it becomes monotonous 
after some hours' reading-. He is not, like Fiske and others, a 
historical philosopher ; he never brings out great historic char- 



Bibliography. 63 

acters and shows their meaning and influence in our national de- 
velopment. He treats Washington as an ordinary man; he rohs 
Jefferson, for some slight foible, of all pretense to statesmanship. 
But for an endless succession of facts gathered from original 
sources, McMaster's work is very valuable. Henry Adams is an 
ideal historian, but his work extends over but sixteen years. 
Schouler's work alone covers the entire period between the Revo- 
lution and the Civil War, and the teacher who can read but one 
elaborate history of this period is recommended to read Schouler. 
His style is not as dignified as one could desire, but his sense of 
proportion is admirable. Rhodes promises to be our greatest 
historian. His tendency to prolixity is the only fault w^e can 
name. His style is charming and reminds us of that of Parkman. 

Foe the Ciyil War. — Greeley's " American Con- 
flict," two vols.; Count of Paris' " Civil War in Amer- 
ica"; Grant's "Memoirs/' two vols.; A. H. Stephens's 
" War Between the States "; Jefferson Davis's " Eise and 
Fall of the Confederate Government/' two vols.; Eopes's 
"Story of the Civil War." The sixth volume of Schouler 
and the fourth volume of Ehodes each covers the first 
half of the war. 

Note. — The works of Stephens and Davis give a Southern view, 
and both are, for the most part, written with fairness. The first 
volume of Greeley gives an excellent account of slavery from 
Colonial times to the Civil War, but a fuller account of the same 
subject is found in Wilson's "Rise and Fall of the Slave Power." 

No full history of the country since the Civil War has been 
written. Andrew's "History of the United States for the Last 
Twenty-five Tears" is somewhat fuller than the school histories. 
The " Recollections of John Sherman/' McCulloch's "Men and 
Measures of Half a Century," and Blaine's "Twenty Years of 
Congress," Vol. II, are of great value in the study of this period; 
the later chapters of Elson's "Side Lights" and of Wilson's 
" Division and Reunion " cover this ground also. 

Miscellaneous. — In addition to the above condensed list 
there are hundreds of other good books that throw light on our 
history. 

Fi?*st. — Biographies ; and the first in this class is Franklin's 
Autobiography. Let every student of history read this, as also 
many other biographies of our leading historic figures. 



- 
JUN 12 1901 



64 How to Teach History. 

Second. — Personal Memoirs. Some of our leading states- 
men favor the public with accounts of their own experiences, 
as Grant, Blaine and others, and their works are of much his- 
toric value. Scarcely less valuable than these are the Recol- 
lections of less conspicuous characters. Among the best in 
this line are Sargent's " Public Men and Events" (a most in- 
teresting view of the thirty years preceding the Civil War) ; 
Quincy's "Figures of the Past" ; McClure's "Lincoln and 
Men of "War Times"; Thompson's "Recollections of Sixteen 
Presidents"; Whipple's "Recollections of Eminent Men"; 
and Forney's " Anecdotes of Public Men." 

Third.— Historical Novels. The historical novel, if a good 
one, will entertain you as well as add to your knowledge of 
history. Among the best in our literature are some of the 
works of James Fenimore Cooper (giving insight into Indian life 
and character) ; of George W. Cable (picturing life among the 
Creoles with wonderful fidelity) ; of James K. Paulding ; 
Thackeray's "Virginians"; Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin"; 
and, for a view of the Revolution, the three recent novels — 
" Hugh Wynne," "Richard Carvel," and "Janice Meredith." 
Musiek's novels furnish good pictures of colonial life. 

Among the unclassified the first to be named is Bryce's 
"American Commonwealth," written by a foreigner, and the 
best picture of America and the Americans of to-day that can 
be found. For the American of seventy-five years ago read 
De Tocqueville's "Democracy in America," a work also by a 
foreigner and almost equal to the great work of Bryce. Every 
school library should contain a set of Winsor's "Narrative 
and Critical History," eight vols., and a set of Hart's " Ameri- 
can History Told by Contemporaries," four vols, when com- 
pleted. Every teacher should also read a few of the speeches 
on great questions by the leading statesmen of each period. 

Any one who would become a specialist, an authority on 
American history, must delve still deeper. He must read 
such works as "Elliot's Debates," "Annals of Congress," 
Benton's "Thirty Years' View," newspapers and magazines 
of the times, and the works of the leading statesmen, 



